Jodie Sweetin says there were no hard feelings involved when her Full House co-stars Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen turned down the chance to reprise their role in Netflix’s Fuller House.
Sweetin, 44, admitted in the Tuesday, June 30, episode of Taboo’s Comics & Kicks podcast that while she was disappointed the twins decided not to return as Michelle Tanner after playing the youngest sitcomsister for eight seasons of the iconic ’90s show, she understood their choice.
“You know, this isn’t what they love,” Sweetin said, adding, “I always say this to like people [who are] like, ‘Oh my god, did they hate it?’ Like, no, everyone’s on good terms with them, but they were 8 years old when this show stopped. Then they did all of those movies and all that stuff that I don’t know that they really loved doing all the time.”
Sweetin continued that Mary-Kate and Ashley, who started acting when they were 9 months old, have a “different relationship” to being on the set of Full House.
“They might not remember being 2 years old and having us all carrying them around and doing this stuff, but I do, you know?” Sweetin said, adding, “And I think that’s not their thing. They’re into fashion. They don’t want attention.”
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“Their empire blew up and they don’t want attention, and I get it,” she said of the twins, 40, who retired from acting more than a decade ago to found luxury fashion house The Row. “They had so much and were so invaded and for public consumption. I totally understand why they don’t want to do that. But we figured we’d, you know, toss it out there and be silly anyway.”
In the Fuller House premiere, the reboot did briefly address Michelle’s absence, giving a nod to the Olsens as the Tanners revealed she was away in New York running a fashion empire.
“And then we all just kind of looked to the camera like, ‘Uh-huh,'” Sweetin recalled of the meta moment.